Anyone who has studied Titanic will eventually come upon a variety of conspiracy theories to explain what happened that fateful night in 1912. Becky Little over at History.com has put together the top three of the craziest in an article reviewing these theories. The top ones are:

I had not heard of the first one but it connects to the one concerning the Illuminati and Jesuits conspiring to bring about the Titanic disaster. The Titanic switch theory keeps getting dusted off every decade or so but easily disproved since the wreck found clearly is of Titanic and not Olympic. As for the mummy curse, well it is pretty much debunked now but it too occasionally gets new life on the Internet as well. I pretty much stick with the theory that Marvin the Martian was testing out his new ray weapon at the time.

March 6, 1912: Titanic (right) had to be moved out of the drydock so her sister Olympic (left), which had lost a propeller, could have it replaced. Robert John Welch (1859-1936), Harland & Wolff Public domain

If you have studied Titanic long enough, you are sure to come across various conspiracy theories. They vary from the supernatural (mummy curse) to the exotic (the Iluminati). And some that are even a stretch for conspiracy theorists to wrap around (like time travel or German submarine sinking Titanic). Then there is the switch theory.

What is the switch theory? That White Star switched the ships so that the actual ship that sank was Olympic not Titanic. The reason varies on who is making the claim. Some years ago Robin Gardiner made the claim in his book Titanic:The Ship That Never Sank? that it was done so that White Star could collect damages on the new ship.

The underlying reason for the switch is the HMS Hawke collided with Olympic in 1911. Olympic was determined to be at fault and Lloyd’s of London refused to pay the claim to White Star. So they decided to switch ships and sink Titanic to claim insurance. Of course the planned sinking went awry and you know the rest.

The book is still out there and has some believers on You Tube and elsewhere repeating it as fact to this day. Enter into the fray Myles Power who decided to take on this claim on his YouTube channel. And it certainly has gotten a lot of interest as newspapers like the Daily Star reporting on it. Power spends a lot of time going through the claim and debunking it. At last check it had over 37,000 views and growing.

I read the book when it first came out and shook my head after I closed the last page. It ought to have been an alternative history book. He is not the first nor likely the last that has come up with wildly speculative (and sometimes entertaining) conspiracy theories. In the age of the Internet though, Gardiner is finding that his claims can be debunked for the whole world to see. No word from Gardiner on what he thinks about all of this. He is probably hoping you will spend money at Amazon to buy his book. Check out your local library and see if you can check it out for free.

FYI: Here is a post I did back in 2014 that goes through many of the various theories about Titanic sinking including the conspiracy and supernatural ones.

Mike Bird, who writes for Business Insider,was intrigued by a Titanic conspiracy he had learned about on the Internet. Various Titanic conspiracy theories have been around for a long time. This one involves Benjamin Guggeheim, Isidor Straus, and John Jacob Astor. All three men, so the theory goes, opposed the creation of the U.S. Federal Reserve. So their deaths on Titanic were not coincidental but purposeful and by the Rothschilds. Bird tracked down this theory along with others(The Jesuit and Illuminati ones). Needless to say, he was not impressed (nor are most people when they read up on the facts).

He mentions at the close of his article something I had not heard about:

There’s also a lot of chatter about the idea that the Titanic should
not have sunk just because it hit an iceberg — a sort of
jet-fuel-doesn’t-melt-steel-beams for the early-20th century.

Frankly I am not surprised at all if some out there are taking this
line. Some have no concept, either through ignorance of what icebergs are or simply not understanding the forces involved, that a giant block of ice can cause such crippling damage to the unsinkable Titanic. So if it could not be the culprit, then of course it opens up a world of things to consider. I will leave it at that and still pursue my personal theory that Titanic was sunk by Marvin the Martian playing with his ray gun. 🙂